Zlens Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy covers and who is responsible

Zlens is operated by Lenscript (光子方程), an independent developer team ("we", "us"). We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy. Contact: donaldkuke@gmail.com.

This policy applies to the Zlens mobile app (Android and iOS) and the website zlens.lenscript.cn. By using these services you confirm that you have read and understood it; the rules for using the service are in the terms of service.

2. The short version

Your photos, videos, live-view frames and camera connection details travel only between your phone and your camera and are never uploaded to our servers. To make the app work, our server (zlens.lenscript.cn) receives your email account, usage statistics and error reports (no photos), what is needed to verify purchases, and the support requests you send. Zlens shows no ads, never sells your information and does not track you across apps. You can delete your account at any time.

3. Processed only between your devices

The following stays between your phone and your camera, or in the phone's local storage. Zlens does not send it to us:

• Camera connection details: camera name, serial number, the camera hotspot's network name and password, Bluetooth pairing data, LAN IP address. Used for automatic reconnection and stored locally (hotspot passwords in the system's secure storage).
• Shooting and transfer data: live-view frames, shooting settings, transferred photos and videos, transfer history, LUT files you import, exported live photos. Transferred files are written to the album or folder you choose.
• Photos in your library: when you browse and pick photos from your phone's library in the app, they are read on the device only; face detection (used to help you pick) runs on the device with the Google ML Kit library bundled in the app, and photos are never uploaded.
• On-set client review: when you turn on your phone's hotspot and a client scans the code, the review page is served from your phone; thumbnails, star ratings and pick lists travel only inside that local network, never over the internet.
• Your phone's location: see "Location" below.

4. What our server receives

The app connects to zlens.lenscript.cn over HTTPS (through Cloudflare) and sends:

• Account: email address, account ID, creation time and unlock status; one-time codes are stored only as hashes and expire after use. Code emails are sent by our email delivery provider, which sees only your address and the message.
• Usage statistics: event type (for example "connected" or "transfer started"), platform, app version, the camera profile you connected, interface language and time. No photos, account, location or device identifier.
• Error and crash reports: error summary, stack trace, the actions leading up to the error, app and OS version, interface language. No photo content.
• Support requests: the email and message you enter under "Contact us" in the app, plus app version, platform and language.
• Purchase verification: the purchase token returned by the app store (the server keeps only a hash of it), order ID, product ID, and a random device identifier generated by the app (not a system device ID or advertising ID), used to verify purchases, keep one purchase within its device limit and process refunds notified by the store.
• Redeem codes (directly distributed version): the code, the account and the random device identifier.
• Remote configuration: on launch the app downloads feature switches and camera-profile updates; this is a plain download.

Usage statistics and error reports are used to find faults and improve compatibility, go only to our own server, and are never handed to any analytics or advertising provider. In the current store versions both are sent automatically while the app runs and there is no switch in the app to turn them off; if you do not want them, write to us and we will delete the records we have received.

5. Location

• Recognising the camera hotspot: Android requires the location permission for an app to read the current Wi-Fi network name (and, on Android 11 and older, to scan for Bluetooth devices); Zlens uses it to tell whether the phone is on the camera's hotspot. On iOS it asks for temporary precise location for the same reason.
• Photo geotagging: when you turn on "Photo location", Zlens reads your phone's current location and writes it to the camera over Bluetooth, or into the copies and live photos downloaded to your phone. The location travels only between your phone and your camera and is never sent to us.
• IP-based fallback: where a location is needed (for example when exporting a live photo) and the phone cannot get a satellite or network fix, Zlens queries one of the third-party services ipwho.is, api.ip.sb or ipapi.co, in that order, to derive a city-level position (about 5 km accuracy) from your IP address. Those services see your IP address and their own privacy policies govern it; turn off writing location in the export screen to avoid the request entirely.

Zlens never requests background location and never records your location in the background.

6. Permissions the app asks for

• Bluetooth / nearby devices: to discover, wake and connect paired cameras.
• Location (precise): see "Location" above.
• Wi-Fi and network state, local network (iOS): to join camera hotspots, discover cameras on the local network and serve the client review page.
• Photos / media: to browse and pick photos in your library, write transferred files to it, and read the source files and LUTs you pick.
• Camera (iOS): required by the system when connecting an external camera body over USB.
• Foreground service (connected device) (Android): to keep the camera connection and transfers going with the screen off or the app in the background, shown in the notification area.

Every permission can be revoked in system settings; the related feature then stops working. Zlens never asks for contacts, SMS or microphone permissions.

7. Third-party components and services

• Google Play Billing / Apple StoreKit: in-app purchases; payment details are handled by the store and never reach us.
• Google ML Kit face detection: bundled in the app and run on the device; photos are never uploaded. ML Kit may send Google its own operational and diagnostic information (no images), governed by Google's privacy policy.
• ipwho.is, api.ip.sb, ipapi.co: only for the IP-based location fallback described above.
• Cloudflare: CDN and security for the website and the app's API, processing your IP address and request headers in transit.
• Our email delivery provider: sends one-time-code emails.

Zlens contains no advertising SDK and uses no advertising identifier.

8. What the website (zlens.lenscript.cn) collects

No account is needed to browse this site. It is a static website and collects only:

• Server access logs: IP address, time, request path, browser User-Agent and referrer, used to troubleshoot and to defend against attacks. Logs rotate by size and are kept for at most 30 days before being overwritten.
• Content delivery: the site is served through Cloudflare for CDN and security. Cloudflare processes your IP address and request headers in transit; see its privacy policy.
• Scripts Cloudflare may inject: we place no third-party analytics, advertising or social plugins on these pages and set no tracking cookies. The site is, however, delivered through the Cloudflare CDN, and Cloudflare may inject scripts of its own at the edge — its email-address obfuscation script (/cdn-cgi/scripts/…/email-decode.min.js) is one you can see today, and when automatic injection is switched on for its Web Analytics it also adds a performance-measurement script (static.cloudflareinsights.com/beacon.min.js). That script is not configured by us, sets no cookie and is not used for advertising or cross-site tracking; it reports page performance and page views to Cloudflare, and Cloudflare’s own privacy policy governs it. A content-blocking browser extension will stop it.
• Page-view counting: pages report "which path was opened", the page title and the referrer to our self-hosted counter (markstats.lenscript.cn, GoatCounter). It is first-party, sets no cookie, creates no device identifier and never reads page content. To opt out permanently run localStorage.setItem('lens_telemetry','0') in your browser console.
• Emails you send us: the "register your email" and "buy by email" buttons simply open your own mail app; what we receive is the message you send, used only to reply and for the purpose you asked for.

9. Email registration

Before launch, the message you send through "register your email" on the site contains your email address and whatever else you write. We keep it in our mailbox solely to send the launch-day download email, delete it within 90 days after that email goes out, or immediately on request.

10. Retention

11. Deleting your account

Confirm under Settings → Account → Delete account in the app and the account is deleted at once: your email, account ID, preferences, one-time-code records and redeem-code unlocks are removed. You can also ask from your registered address at donaldkuke@gmail.com; see the account deletion page.

After deletion we still keep the app-store purchase-verification records (token hash, order ID, product ID, random device identifier) and the anti-replay record of used redeem codes. They contain no email address and are used to prove purchases, prevent repeated claims and reconcile with the stores; this is also why a store purchase is unaffected by deleting your account. To have them deleted too, write to us; afterwards the purchase may need to be restored again.

Uninstalling the app or clearing its data deletes the local records on the phone. On iOS, sign-in credentials kept in the system keychain may survive a reinstall; signing out or deleting the account removes them.

12. Your rights

Under China's Personal Information Protection Law and any law that applies where you live (such as the GDPR or CCPA) you can:

• access and copy the personal information we hold about you;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• delete your information or delete your account (where one exists);
• withdraw consent and restrict or object to certain processing (for example turn off anonymous statistics);
• receive a copy of your data in a common machine-readable format (portability);
• complain to the supervisory authority where you live.

To exercise a right, email donaldkuke@gmail.com and include your registered email or another way for us to identify you. We reply within 15 business days; to protect your data we may first verify your identity. Requests are free unless they are clearly repetitive or unfounded.

13. Security and security incidents

All traffic to our servers is encrypted with HTTPS; only the necessary ports are exposed to the public internet, administrative endpoints are authenticated and rate-limited, and secrets live only in the server environment, never in code or logs. Camera hotspot passwords and sign-in credentials kept by the app live in the operating system's secure storage; the server stores only a hash of each purchase token, never the token itself.

If a security incident is likely to put your personal information at risk, we notify you within 72 hours of confirming it, by the email you gave us or on this page, and report it to the authorities as the law requires.

14. Children

Zlens is intended for users aged 14 and over (or the minimum age required where you live) and is not designed for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 14; if you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has given us information, contact donaldkuke@gmail.com and we will delete it promptly.

15. Where data is stored and international transfers

Our servers are located in mainland China. Processing outside China happens in these cases: Cloudflare's global network handles your requests in transit; payment providers and app stores may process payment data where they are established; and any other provider named in the relevant section of this policy. We send each provider only the minimum needed for its task and require protection equivalent to this policy.

16. Changes to this policy

We update this policy on this page and revise the date at the top. For material changes to what we collect, why, or with whom we share it, we give at least 15 days' notice on this page, in the app or by email. Previous versions are available on request. The current version lives at https://zlens.lenscript.cn/en/privacy/.

17. Contact

Privacy questions, rights requests, data export or deletion: donaldkuke@gmail.com (this mailbox is monitored). Chinese-speaking users can also reach us in QQ group 824558022. We reply within 15 business days.